GB & Ireland claim Vivendi Seve Trophy

Paul McGinley’s Great Britain and Ireland team beat the Continental Europe team in France to win the Vivendi Seve Trophy for a 6th successive victory in this competition, the final score standing at 15 ½ to 12 ½ points.

The GB&I team got off to a great start on the opening day of fourballs as they came out 4-1 on top over the European team.

Lee Westwood and Mark Foster were the only pair to drop points against the Europeans, when Francesco Molinari holed a putt on the 18th to take the point for himself and Anders Hansen, right after Westwood made a 20-foot putt on the 18th green which looked like it would salvage half a point for the GB&I pairing.

Scott Jamieson and Ross Fisher only needed 14 holes to dispatch of Peter Hanson and Raphael Jacquelin as they were six up by the 14th with the Europeans having won only one two holes.

It was a similar situation for Ian Poulter and Robert Rock against the in-form Thomas Bjorn and Alexander Noren when the English duo were five up by the 15th, with Rock winning four holes, Poulter winning two and Thomas Bjorn winning just one.

The Europeans mounted a comeback on day two of the foursomes after they won 3 ½ points to GB&I’s 1 ½ points.

Westwood and Foster, the only pair not to win on the opening day for McGinley’s charges, came away with the only full point for GB&I on the second day when they beat Hansen and Molinari, with the Europeans failing to win a single hole.

Dyson and Donaldson managed to halve their round against Bjorn and Hanson but the Europeans beat the rest of GB&I’s team to bring the overall score to 5 ½ to 4 ½ points to McGinley’s team.

Captain Jean Van De Velde’s team then slipped up again on day three as his rival McGinley’s side took 3 ½ points from Saturday mornings greensomes, after Hanson and Noren were the only pairing to take any points away from the GB&I team against Darren Clarke and David Horsey.

After Saturday’s foursomes, GB&I had a five point lead over Europe with the overall score standing at 11 ½ to 6 ½ points.

Dyson and Poulter overcame Pablo Larrazabal and Alexander Noren while Westwood and Horsey were successful over Jacquelin and Nicolas Colsaerts.

Bjorn and Hansen were the only two Europeans to take a full point of the GB&I team on Saturday when they beat Ross Fisher and Mark Foster while Rock and Donaldson halved their round with Molinari and Francesco Manassero.

The Europeans were not down and out however, and on the final day they staged a thrilling comeback that pushed the GB&Irl team all the way in the singles after they won five out of the first five singles rounds.

Bjorn, Hansen, Molinari, Noren and Miguel Angel Jimenez beat their opponents including veterans Clarke and Westwood until David Horsey stopped the rot against Nicolas Colsaertes by halving the round.

It was an incredibly important result for McGinley and his team, who went on to win the next three singles through Jamieson, Poulter and finally Foster to clinch the 14 ½ points needed to ensure victory.

Hanson and Fisher halved the last hole and McGinley was able to lift the Seve Trophy after a thrilling but nervy day of golf and deserved victory for Great Britain and Ireland.

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